Cornelia j



No. 620,694. Patented Mar. 7, I899. G. J. CHADWICK.

CARRIER.

(Application filed. June 20, 1898.\

(No Model.)

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GORNELIA J OHADWIOK, OF NE\V YORK, N. Y.

CARRIER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 620,694, dated March'7, 1899.

Application filed June 20, 1898.

T0 to whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CORNELIA J. CHAD- WIOK, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing in the city of New York, borough of Manhattan, andState of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in(Jarriers, of which the following is a specification, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspectivefront view of one form of my carrier combined with harness, and Fig. 2shows a similar rear view of same in actual use.

The object of my invention is to provide a carrier or device by means ofwhich wounded or otherwise-injured persons or those from any causeincapacited from moving their bodies in the usual way may be safely andreadily moved and transported from place to place by the assistance ofbearers or other persons and likewiseto provide such a device whichshall be not only economical in construction, but also light in weight,and so flexible or easily folded as to be readily stored for use in suchform or folded condition as to occupy but little space, and also toprovide a carrier of such a character that the hands and arms of thebearers may be free to carry weapons or to grasp the patient or otherobjects for the purpose of steadying, and also to provide such a carrierwhich will occupy when expanded for use the least possible space andwill when loaded likewise bear its burden in such a position as tofacilitate its carriage through narrow or tortuous passages, ascents, ordescentssuch as narrow stairways, companion-ways, or through pathsfilled with obstacles which must be avoided by the bearers and theirload. Broadly, I attain these objects by departing from the formermethod and position in which patients have heretofore been carried inlitters-viz., a position in which the patient is horizontally orsubstantially horizontally extended, and the bearers are located ateither end of the body thus horizontally supported, and the power of thebearers is in part or in whole applied directly through their arms bycatching hold of the rigid or at least partly-rigid frame of thecarrier, and by substituting in lieu of such former devices one adaptedto support at Serial No. 684,017. (No moclel.)

least the trunk of the patient in a substantially vertical or uprightposition and in such I relation to the bearers that one of them shall beat each side instead of at each end of the patient, and of thusconnecting the patient so supported by a suitable carrier with thebodies of the bearers in such a way that his weight will hang from andbe supported by suitable harness bearing upon the shoulders or bodies ofthe bearers and so located that while carrying forward thepatient thehands of the bearers may be, when desired, entirely free.

'In its most general aspect my invention consists in providing for thebase of the body of the patient a supporting-seat upon which the trunkmay be carried in its normal upright position, as when standing orsitting, and by providing flexible supports and connections, whereby thesaid seat thus supporting the body may be connected with and thepatient, without materially interfering with the free use of their handsor limbs.

The matter of form enters but little into my invention. The seat inquestion may be made of any convenient form. I prefer, however,'to makeit of flexible materialsuch as a good stout textile fabric, like canvas,for instance-and to give it the shape in which the seat A is illustratedin the drawings. The seat A is provided with at least two vertical orsubstantially vertical supporters B B, which may be made of leatherstraps, for instance, or out of suitable widths of canvas or otherpreferably flexible material, and these supporters may, if desired, bemultiplied, though I find two sufficient and preferable, having dueregard to economy of construction and weight, or, again, in lieu of thesupporters the seat A might be carried by a continuous sheet of fabriccovering the back of the patient.

To return, however, to the particular form of my invention illustratedby the drawings, my two supporting-straps B B are attached in anyconvenient manner to the seat A and are also united at their oppositeextremities by a connection 11, which, like the seat, is preferablyconstructed out of flexible material and by which the neck or upperportions carried by thebearers, one on either side of of the trunk ofthe patient are supported against falling backward while being carried.The said supporters B B are also preferably again connected about midwaybetween H and A by another fiexible connecting-band O, which should notonly form a rearward connection between the two supporters, but shouldalso be sufliciently extended in front to form a detachable frontconnection orsupport, resisting tendency of the trunk of the patient tofall forward. As shown in the particular form of the inventionillustrated in the drawings, this supporting-band C is substantially abelt provided with a snap-clasp o, engaging in a suitable ring 0', aswill be well understood, both adapted to be fastened together, so as tosurround or support the trunk of the patient about midway between hisseat and neck. It is of course obvious, as stated, that the partsll, C,B, B, and A might consist of a single sheet of flexible material, atleast at the back of the patient,without departing from my invention.

The next stepis to provide the bearers with any suitable harness, towhich may be attachably and detachably connected my said perpendicularlysupporting carrier. Any form of harness may be employed which willbringthe weight of the patient upon the shoulders of the bearers. Theform illustrated in the drawingsis an advantageous one, in which D D arediagonal shoulderstraps permanently united where they cross each otherat the back and in the front adapted to be opened for the purpose offacilitating the insertion of the body of the bearer and thereafterclosed and fastened into position-as, for instance, by buttoning overthe button d. As the strain is a severe one upon the shoulders of thebearers not only in a downward, but also to some extent in a sidewisedirection, it will prove of advantage to further addto the said straps abreast-belt E E and also a waist-belt F F, each said breast-belt beinglikewise preferably permanently secured to the shoulder-straps at theirplace of crossing in the rear of the bearer and detachably fastened atthe front in the same way 'as the shoulder-straps themselves-that is,

buttoned down over the button d, for instance-and the belts F F alsosecured to the transverse shoulder-straps and adapted to open and beclosed with ordinary buckles, snap-hooks m m, or the like in front.

In the form of my carrier illustrated in the drawings I prefer to makethe supporter H of the upper part of the trunk or neck of the patient ofone continuously-extending piece of flexible material, to which isdetachably secured in any convenient manner at the appropriate points,as by snap-hooksb b engaging into rings 0 c, the extremities of thesupporting-straps B B and in turn to detachably connect twocontinuations or extensions of the supporter H-say H H -with the harnessof the bearers at or about the point where the diagonal straps andbreast-belt are secured together and across each other at the backs ofthe bearers, as shown in Fig. 2; but of course these extensions might bedispensed with or varied in form, so that the upper rear supporter IIwill become an integral part of the carrier itself, which latter mightby any suitable or convenient attachments or extensions be in turnitself secured detachably to the harnesses.

The operation of myinvention is as follows: The wounded orotherwise-incapacitated person may be placed upon the carrier, thelatter being at the time detached from the harnesses of the bearers.sume a sitting posture upon the seat A and the midway supporting-belt Gis carried around his body and there locked, so as to afford to theupright trunk a support against both backward and forward falling. Thearms of the patient are then placed, as shown in Fig. 2, behind thesupports B B,those parts of the latter intercepted by the arms of thepatient being represented by dotted lines in Fig. 2. The bearers havingadjusted and. fastened upon themselves the harnesses, next bring theirbodies in any convenient way in to the required position in order toenable the connections between the carrier and the harness to be madeand the former hooked or snapped into place relative to the saidharnesses. The bearers then assume their natural position, as shown inFig. 2, and thereby lift from the ground the trunk or torso of thepatient, when, owing to his sitting posture, his feet likewise swingclear and he may be carried indefinitely in a normal and healthfulposition and without impeding or interfering substantially with thebearers, particularly as regards freedom of forward or other motion oftheir feet and of handling weapons or seizing hold of proper supports.

It will be observed that the seat of my carrier A, in combination withits other parts, supports the trunk or torso of the patient in asubstantially upright or vertical position. The midwaysupporter Gprevents either backward or forward disturbance during the progress ofcarrying. The upper support H not only assists in preventing the upperportions of the body from falling backward, but also acts as a supportto the neck and head. The arms of the patient being passed behind theupright supporters B B, likewise offset the tendency of the body to fallforward, while The patient is caused to ascorrespondingly the uppersupporter H further tends to prevent the body from falling in anopposite direction.

When not in use, my carrier, with its harness connections, may bereadily packed away As previously stated, the parts A B B and thoseparts of O H which pass behind the patient might be equivalentlyproduced and used in the shape of a single sheet of material so shapedand cut as to include within the external boundaries of the sheetmaterial upon substantially the lines and in the positions of theseparts. In such a case in order to prevent the patient from fallingforward either front midway supporting-straps like 0 C may be used, or,if preferred, the length of the oblong sheet of continuous andrearwardly supporting material may be increased, so as to bring it underthe entire seat of the patient, so as to underly the under part of histhighs, in which case, the lower ends of the continuous sheet beingpulled upward higher than the bottom of the seat and secured in thatposition by detachably connecting them with the harness or with someconnection between themselves and the harness, the thighs of the patientwill be doubled or drawn upward toward his chest, their under portionsbearing against and supported by the thus upwardly-turned portion of thesheet and his trunk or body thus prevented from falling forward. It isobvious that such or other methods of shaping or arranging the flexiblematerial constituting my'carrier constitute no departure from myinvention.

I am aware that litters for wounded or in capacitated persons have beenconstructed of flexible material; but such litters have been providedwith one or more parts of rigid material, such as wood, intended to becarried by the hands of bearers, with one of the latter at each end ofthe body of the patient.

' One of the advantages incident to the use of my carrier, as described,is its capacity for carrying the patient either facing forward or facingbackward, as may be most advantageous. For instance, in going upstairsit will prove advisable to carry the patient backward, in which case thecarrier is locked or snapped to the harnesses in such a way as to insurethis result, and the legs of the patient thus overhang instead ofencounter the stairway or ladder. Other obvious advantages resultingfrom this capacity for reversing the litter easily and quickly will beapparent.

WVhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent is thefollowing, viz:

1. A flexible carrier or litter consisting of a bottom, or seat-support,attached to, and depending from, substantially vertical flexiblesupporters and, connected with the latter, flexible supporters extendinghorizontally to support the trunk or torso of the patient in asubstantially vertical or upright position, substantially as and for thepurposes described.

2. A flexible carrier or litter consisting of a bottom, or seat-support,attached to, and depending from, substantially vertical flexiblesupporters and, connected with the latter, flexible supporters extendinghorizontally to support the trunk or torso of the patient in asubstantially vertical or upright position, and in combination with suchlitter and its aforesaid connections, and attached thereto, a pair ofharnesses, one member of which is on one side of said bottom and thepatient thereby supported, and the other on the other side, asdistinguished from fore and aft, and whereby the patient may be carriedby, and without guidance or support from, the hands of, twolaterally-positioned bearers and without contact or connection betweenthe said bearers and patient except through the said carrier andharnesses, substantially as and for the purposes described.

3. The vertically-carrying litter consisting of the combination of theseat A, upper or neck supporter H, midway or back supporter 0,connecting vertical supporters B B all attached together and the wholein turn at tached to sets of harness to be worn by and secured tobearers at each side of the patient substantially as and for thepurposes de scribed.

Dated New York, June 9, 1898.

CORNELIA J. OHADl/VICK.

Witnesses:

T. O. BYRNES, GEORGE G. MEASURES.

